Printing-press attachment



W. R. HILDEBRAND.

PRINTING PRESS ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-5, 1916.

Patented Nov. 9, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY WW EH 1% W. R. HILDEBRAND.

PRINTING PRESS ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-5. 1916- 1,358, 1 52. Patented Nov. 9, 1920.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2- Mm f6. 1617" if; 5; MM

W. R. HILDEBRAND.

PRINTING PRESS ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-5| IBIS.

. Patented Nov. 9, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- mm n. 16%

INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PA'T'ENT'OFFICE.

WILLIAM R. HILDEBRAND, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO PRINTING PRESS EXTENSION DELIVERY COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

PRINTING-PRESS ATTACHMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1920.

Application filed August 5, 1916. Serial No. 113,244.

To all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM R. HILDE- BRAND, citizen of the United States of America, residing at New York clty, New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing-Press Attachments, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates generally to 1mpi'oved printing press attachments, and has more particular reference to a novel form of sheet collecting table and means for straightening sheets to be stacked on the collecting table.

In United States Letters Patent Number 1,101,669 issued to me on July 21, 1914, I have disclosed certain improvements 1n sheet collecting tables for printing presses, and the present invention is a development of that cover by said Letters Patent.

One object of the invention is to provide means whereby the collecting table for the sheets shall be flexibly suspended, in such manner that the descending movement thereof shall be exactly proportional to the thickness of the sheets fed thereto. By the provision of the novel means, hereinafter described, for causing the descent of the table I am enabled to secure extremely fine adjustments properly proportional to the thickness of the sheets used at any glven time.

A further object of the invention is to provide novel, and efiiciently operative, means for straightening the sheets as they are fed on to the table, so that as the sheets are' superposed on the table they will form a perfectly straight stack with the sides all plumb.

Other objects and advantages of the invention, and its detail structure, will be dis closed in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1, is a side elevation of a printing press, having my improvements applied thereto;

Fig. 2, is a top plan view of the mechanism over the collecting table (the latter being omitted), this view showing particularly the means for straightenmg the sheets;

Fig. 3, is an enlarged detail perspective View of the mechanism for lowering the sheet collecting table, as sheets are .fed

vention may be applied to other types of presses.

Extending forwardly from the press 10 is a pair of tracks 11, (only one of which is shown in the drawings upon which the wheels or rollers of t e' grasshopper 12 travel. 13 denotes a set of tapes, as are usual in presses of this kind.

Projecting upwardly from the frame of the press is a head 14 in which bears a shaft 15, from which the grasshopper 12 is actuated.. The shaft 15 is connected, by means of a link 16, to one end of an extensible rod 17, the other end of which is connected to a moving part of the press, so as to be suitably thrust against at appropriate times. The construction so far described is common to presses of the kind contemplated herein.

Adjacent the front end of the press, and

below and supporting the forward part of the tracks 11, is an open frame which comprises the uprights 18, the lateral bars 19, and the end members 20.

Each of the lateral bars 19 is provided with a series of perforated lugs or brackets table or platform 28, which is'in line with v the open space of the frame 181920.

At the rear end of each shaft 22, i; e., at the end adjacent the forward end of the press, is loosely mounted a worm wheel 29v 31 is a sleeve 35 having a pendent arm 36 to bell crank levers with a series of slots 37 therein, and also having an upwardly projecting arm 38, upon which is pivoted a pawl 39 designed to coact with a ratchet wheel 40 keyed on the shaft 31.

Designed to engage any of the slots .37 is a pin 41 formed at one end of a rod 42, which projects rearwardly in the direction of the press 10. It is desired that the rod 42 shall be longitudinally reciprocated at certain intervals, and to that end the rod 42 is.operatively connected to a rod 43 which is driven from any suitable moving part of the press, such as the gear wheel 44, said rod 43 being connected to the shaft 45 of the inking roller (not shown) which is rotated in the ink fount 46. The connection between rods 42 and 43 is effected by means of a block 47 which is held by set screw 47 on the rod 43, while the rod 42 passes loosely through the block and is capable of axial movement therein. The rod 42 is provided with spaced collars 48 at opposite sides of the block 47, said collars receiving the impact of the block 47 whereby the rod 42 is moved back and forth.

At the end opposite that carrying the worm wheel 29 each shaft 22 is provided with a hand wheel 49, to permit such shaft to be manually rotated, and for a like purpose the shaft 31 carries a hand wheel 50 at either end adjacent the sleeve 35.

Secured rigidly to either end of the shaft 15 is a crank, arm 51, (only one of which appears in the drawing), said crank arms being pivotally connected at one end of long bars or links 52, which traverse the upper part of the frame 18--19-20. The opposite ends of the links 52 are pivotally connected 53, fulcrumed at 54 to lugs 55 carried by the side bars 19. The links 52 serve to support a transverse bar or joggler 56, which is adapted to strike one edge of a sheet in the action of straightening the same during stacking.

, Arranged opposite the bar 56 is a similar bar 57 against which the sheet strikes as it comes from the delivery mechanism of the press. The bar 57 is supported by arms 58 secured at one end of rods 59, held in brackets 60 carried by the lateral frame members 19. At its ends the bar 56 has arms 5 8 which are capable of sliding on the rods 59, and said rods 52 have spaced ,oollars 61 at opposite sides of the bar 56 for striking against said bar and moving the same lengthwise.

One arm of each forked end 62 engaging a pin 63 which proj ects from the enlargedportion of a rod 64 slidable in a sleeve 65. The rod 64 is normally pressed baokwardly into the sleeve 65 by a coiled spring 66 and has secured to its projecting end a lateral bar or joggler 67 which extends at right angles to the bars 56 and 57, the bars 67 being adapted to act against the lateral edges of the sheets to strengthen them during stacking on the table 28.

The invention operates in the following manner :-It is desired that after a sheet of paper is laid on the table 28 the latter be lowered a distance corresponding exactly to the-thickness of such sheet, so that the upper face of the stack on the platform 28 shall be substantially flush at all times with the sheet delivery mechanism of the press. It, now, it be assumed, as is the case, that the space between any two teeth adjacent each other on the ratchet wheel 40 corresponds to the thickness of the thinnest sheet of paper handled by the press, it follows that if such thinnest paper be used for a run the ratchet wheel 40 should be turned one tooth after each sheet is laidon the table 28, so that bell crank lever 53 has a the latter may descend a distance equal to I 47-48 between rods 43 and 42 the latter will be correspondingly moved axially back and forth. In the backward movement there is some lost motion until the block 47 strikes the rear collar 48, and during this period a sheet of paper from the press is laid on the table 28. When the block 47 strikes the rear collar 48 the rod 42 will be drawn baokwardly revolving the sleeve 35 so that the pawl 39 will advance the ratchet wheel 40 one tooth. The effect of this is to turn shafts 21 a proper distance to unwind cables 24 and suitably lower the platform 28. For different thicknesses of paper, to get a greater throw of the arm 36 and a correspondingly greater feeding thrust of the pawl 39, the block 47 is adjusted on the rod 43, and the pin 41 is placed in one of the other slots 37 in the arm 36, dependent on the extent of rotation desired for the ratchet wheel 40. c a

If it be desired to raise or lower the table 28 manually any of the wheels 49 or 50 may be turned in the proper direction, and these wheels are provided at both ends and sides of the machine so that the operator need not go to any special part of the machine to actuate the table 28. l

The sheet straightening mechanism, which cooperates with the collecting table, is actuated once during each operation of the press. As a printed sheet is delivered from the press it strikes the rear bar 57 and may or may not remain properly positioned. As the shaft 15 revolves it actuates the links 52 moving them forward and causing the rear collar 61 to advance the bar 56 against the rear edge of the sheet. Practically simultaneously with this motion of bar 56, the

bell crank levers 53 will force the side bars 67 toward each other thus straightening the lateral edges of the stack. As the links 52 retract the bars 56 and bars 57 will be moved back to initial positions in preparation for the next straightening operation.

It will, of course, be understood that when the rod 42 is moved forward the pawl 39 will be retracted, gliding over the teeth of ratchet wheel 40 without operating the latter.

\Vhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is In a sheet collecting means to be used in connection with a printing press'and the delivery mechanism thereof, a pair of revoluble shafts supported by said frame, cables carried by said shafts, a counter shaft extending at right angles to the first named shafts and supported by the frame, a worm gear connection between the counter shaft and the first named shafts, whereby the first named shafts can only be rotated through the movement of the counter shaft, a sleeve on said counter shaft, said sleeve having a depending slotted arm and an upstanding arm, a bar having one of its ends adapted to en age a slot in the depending arm, a second bar having one end connected to a moving part of the press, a block adjustable on one bar through which block the other passes, a pawl pivoted to said upstanding arm, and a gear wheel on the counter shaft with which said pawl cooperates to intermittently rotate the counter shaft, the degree of arcuate movement of said counter shaft and the distance of the intermittent lowering of the cables being predetermined by the location in the slot of the depending arm wherein the said first named bar is pivoted.

lni-testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM R. HILDEBRAND. Witnesses:

Orcro MUNK, JUDITH PARDEE. 

